Microfluidic fabrication of stable collagen microgels with aligned microstructure using flow-driven co-deposition and ionic gelation.

ABSTRACT: The controlled biofabrication of stable, aligned collagen hydrogels within microfluidic devices is critically important to the design of more physiologically accurate, longer-cultured on-chip models of tissue and organs. To address this goal, collagen-alginate microgels were formed in a microfluidic channel by calcium crosslinking of a flowing collagen-alginate solution through a cross-channel chitosan membrane spanning a pore allowing ion diffusion but not convection. The gels formed within seconds as isolated islands in a single channel, and their growth was self-limiting. Total gel thickness was controlled by altering the concentration of calcium and collagen-alginate flow rate to reach an equilibrium of calcium diffusion and solution convection at the gel boundary, for a desired thickn

SUBMITTER: Correa SO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10237176 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature